


Repairing Your Soul

by LadyKnight33



Series: Reaper76 Collections [5]
Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, Idiots Reunited, M/M, Reconciliation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-02
Updated: 2020-01-02
Packaged: 2021-02-27 13:42:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,272
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22088092
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyKnight33/pseuds/LadyKnight33
Summary: The second age of Overwatch succeeded. Talon is locked up and the world is seeking justice. Jack visits Reaper in prison, hoping to understand how this all happened. The actual truth is hard to retrieve and wholly unexpected. In the end, two old men finally start talking to each other.
Relationships: Reaper | Gabriel Reyes & Soldier: 76 | Jack Morrison, Reaper | Gabriel Reyes/Soldier: 76 | Jack Morrison
Series: Reaper76 Collections [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1584623
Comments: 6
Kudos: 65





	Repairing Your Soul

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Slynx](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Slynx/gifts).



**Repairing Your Soul**

Special cells had to be created for each of the prisoners. The officials handling their imprisonment before trial were understandably nervous. One had already escaped a maximum security prison. Another could flit through electronics with a wave of a hand. But the one Jack was most interested in could turn into smoke with just a thought. That one sat docile behind concrete and hard light walls. Minimal vents on a closed circuit. No crack for the man to disappear through.

Not that Reaper ever tried.

Divested of his mask, armor and weapons, Gabriel Reyes somehow looked less. The decay and regeneration served to make him unrecognizable at times. He was allowed to keep the coat and deep hood while in the cell, but should he leave it for any reason his head and arms were required to be visible. Within the cell, Reyes kept his face hidden in the shadows of his hood.

“On the wrong side of the bars, aren’t you?” Gabriel’s voice drifted eerily from the still figure. More machine than human. “Stealing pulse rifles and supplies from Helix can’t have put you in their good graces.”

Jack scowled. Helix Security had dropped charges once Soldier 76 brought in the leaders of the Talon Council. And returned the stolen pulse rifle. “At least I didn’t break the most dangerous man in the world out of prison.”

A broken chuckle startled him. Reaper stretched his frame and stood. “I remember a time when that used to be me.” Slowly skeletal hands reformed flesh to lower the black hood. The grimace was involuntary. Morrison had seen this melted flesh dripping from a fractured skull a grand total of twice. He also knew Gabriel was capable of reigning in the horror effects and this was just for show. “Hi, Jack.” The former Blackwatch Commander stood at the bars blanketed with a shimmering blue light forcefield. When the white haired soldier refused to react to the halloween mask, Gabriel’s face returned to something more normal. More how Jack remembered it. Scarred, neatly trimmed goatee, warm amber eyes. Pieces of flesh dissolved into smoke occasionally or a large gash exposed bone. This was involuntary even with such mastery over his own cells.

Soldier 76 came in civilian clothes and he desperately wanted the armor his jacket provided. Even behind a barrier specially created to prevent his smoke from drifting through, Jack knew Gabriel to be dangerous. The gaping scar in his side was proof. Not even an attractive one yet. Probably never would become one. “Why.”

“You and the entire world. Why? Fill in the blanks, Jack. I’m done explaining myself and my actions to idiots.” The annoyance cascading through Gabriel’s voice rippled down Jack’s spine. He understood the sentiments, but the former Strike Commander in him refused to accept the dismissal.

“You don’t answer Helix. You don’t answer the Tribunal in The Hague. You don’t answer your lawyers.”

“So they send you. Original.”

“Cut the crap, Reyes.” Morrison’s brow furrowed at Reaper’s distain. No one had sent him, but Gabriel would not believe that. “You will be imprisoned for the rest of your life. If you explain things then you might be able to reduce your sentence.”

“Not interested.” Reaper turned his back to the bars. “Might as well create that eternal tomb now.”

“Gabriel…” Jack growled from frustration. He did not expect the stiffening of Reaper’s back, immediately followed by a heavy sigh and sagging of the man’s shoulders. This wasn’t resignation or defeat. Jack knew his long time partner and friend. The only time this proud independent man showed these signs was when Jack had him pinned with the truth. No words had to be spoken. Both realized Jack saw through the facade and the name ‘Gabriel’ punched through all of the man’s defenses. It wasn’t that the former hero of the first Omnic Crisis hated his given name. No, ‘Gabriel’ just wasn’t a name that left Jack’s lips lightly since they became close during the last phase of SEP.

Jack spun on his heels. In three steps he had the badge to let him past the hard light barrier and the keys to the metal bars. The guard followed. Immediately locking the cell door behind Jack and there to catch the badge to prevent Reaper from stealing it from Jack. The old white haired soldier grabbed the cloaked shoulder and spun the man. Gabriel snarled in anger. “Don’t pretend to understand what happened.” His tan and scarred face split from distraction.

“I don’t understand. That’s why I’m here. When I ran away from that burning building, no one was alive.”

“You should have ran into the building! Saved those who couldn’t run. You’re a goddamned enhanced soldier!” Gabriel’s voice cracked when the voice assister couldn’t handle the thick emotions. Jack had no idea where in the Headquarters Gabriel had been, but without a doubt the man would have returned to the building to search for the injured. He had already done it once before. Jack on the other hand had been expelled from near the source of the first explosion. What was the point in telling Gabriel that he had gone as close to the flames as possible? Jack had found nothing but burnt corpses next to that inferno. He only survived because of his enhancements. 

“How many?” Jack grabbed Reaper’s coat and yanked that decomposing face close. “How many did you find?” Deliberately slow. Desperate for confirmation. The blast took out hundreds of people. It was a wonder of modern technology from the SEP that let the primary targets escape.

Gabriel’s pause was in part thought and in part reluctance. The frenzy of shifting flesh suggested the latter. “Three.” Those disappearing amber eyes closed and promptly dissipated into wisps of harsh black vapor. “I got three out. Then got trapped.”

Jack had pieced together that last part given the state of Reaper’s health. “And when did O’Deorain find you.”

“I don’t know!” Anger and frustration boiled over. “I woke up in a sterile laboratory and haven’t been truly unconscious since!” That was news. “Where is she now?” Gabriel’s question came out softly. There was a connection between those two Jack did not understand.

“Oasis. Diplomatic immunity. The Tribunal hasn’t been able to argue for extradition.” Jack released his old friend. “She also refuses to provide statements.” Gabriel sank onto the bench, hanging his head. All the fight evaporated from the terrorist. “Gabe…” Jack sat next to him. Gabriel turned his head away from the soldier. Jack couldn’t let his partner pull away. Physically or emotionally. Not now. This was the closest to a normal conversation he had had with Reyes since before the explosion. Jack did what he always did when Gabriel disappeared into bouts of depression. He draped his arm across Gabriel’s broad shoulders. Pulled the wraith close.

The give under his finger tips clued Jack to how unstable Gabriel really was.

Instead of words, ones he desperately wanted to spew forth, Jack rested his head on the gentle give of Gabriel’s shoulder. The muscle reformed slowly the longer Jack sat there. Gabriel’s disbelief suspended. Brokenly the static of the voice assister wafted into the cell. “What do you want from me, Jack?”

“I want to understand what happened. Why you did all this? Talon destroyed Overwatch and then I find out you work for them.” Honesty was the only option. “Murders. Thefts. Acts of terror. Instigating war. There are thousands of reasons the Tribunal have for putting you away for good. You know they’d give you the death sentence if they knew how to kill you. Tell me there was a reason for all of it.”

The man who became the Reaper heaved a sigh that shattered souls. “I can give you any number of excuses. Deep cover. Obligation. Coercion. But do you know why I am alive right now?”

“O’Deorain.”

“That is the easy answer.”

“Gabe. Stop beating around the bush. We need the truth.” Jack needed resolution of nearly a decade of questions.

The soldier fully expected to be deflected once again. Reyes was a master of manipulation. A renowned strategist. For years Jack idolized the man before love ever entered their lives. Trying to debrief the man had always been complicated. Today turned out no different. Gabriel stared with empty eyes into his loosely clasped hands. “Honesty. Truth. Those are highly subjective and you know that. Purely based on point of view. I won’t deny what happened after. The acts I did as a mercenary on Talon’s payroll, I did to stay alive. Moira was already deeply connected to Talon. She used her resources in Oasis to reconstitute my body. You can understand that the procedures required significant financial compensations.”

“Gabe, tell me you didn’t.”

The terrorist with a familiar face looked up at him. “Do you want the truth, Jack? Or plausible deniability?”

“I want you back. That’s all I have ever wanted since I learned you were alive.”

Gabriel huffed. “Alive. Debatable. I don’t bleed. My heart doesn’t beat. What I call brain activity…. Mostly biological machines with my DNA. Whatever your disagreements with Moira are, she is an undeniable genius. Ask her about that stuff. Same thing she’s capable of though more refined since its not working with a corpse.”

Ignoring the disparaging remark, Jack pressed on. “Why did you ask for her help to begin with?”

“I was falling apart. You remember Soldier 17? How she melted away into a puddle of genetic soup right before our eyes?”

Jack’s eyes widened despite himself. That was perhaps the most horrific image from SEP. The young woman’s screams haunted his nights for years. Always wondering if that would ever happen to him. “But that was decades ago.”

“Slow to progress. I was more genetically stable. Or that was the guess. I needed her. I wanted her to reverse everything SEP did. But that wasn’t happening. Apparently genetic manipulation is permanent. Stop.” Gabriel sat upright suddenly, dislodging Jack from his shoulder. “I don’t need your pity.”

Jack gave them a bit of separation. Not that he wanted to, but Gabriel’s fierce opposition to anything remotely resembling sympathy demanded it. “I’m not… Why do you have to make everything so complicated?”

“Complicated! When will you learn that the truth is always complicated!”

“I’m trying to get you out of a life long prison sentence. You don’t deserve to be put away.”

“Listen to you! You act like I was completely innocent in the whole affair. What did I do to actually take down Talon? Huh? You want a plea deal? A confession? Get to the point or go away.” Gabriel pulled away completely.

Stunned Jack could only stare defeated. He wasn’t the Strike Commander any more. Didn’t technically have rank over Reyes. Bounty hunter and mercenary. Same job, different so called sides. Suddenly a lightbulb flashed in his brain. He had gotten better at fitting together puzzles thanks to Sombra. And everything about Gabriel killing for Talon on Talon’s terms made no sense. Even at the behest of the geneticist, the man sitting before him would never do something that evil for money. Too much pride in doing the awful work of rectifying wrongs. But there was one commonality.

“It was the Omnics. Wasn’t it.” The briefest flicker of surprise confirmed it. Lingering in the back of his memory was the first introduction to Null Sector. The Omnic Terrorist cell demanding equal rights in London at the cost of human lives. Gabriel had not been highly critical nor did he condemn the group beyond suggesting their methods wouldn’t succeed in winning any favors. As Reaper, Gabriel undeniably killed. Targeted assassinations. Only those who posed a threat to greater enforcement of regulating Omnics. Oddly the same goal Talon had, but Ogundimu wanted the world to blame Omnics so the second Omnic War could begin. “Damn it, Gabriel. There are other ways of being a freedom fighter.”

“Oh? Says the man who put on a mask and went vigilante.”

“I did that to stop you. And you know it.”

“So Los Muertos was just practice?” There it was. The tease. The twisting of events to take attention off his criminal actions. Jack had seen it too many times when plausible deniability went out the window.

“Not the discussion we are having.” 

Gabriel sighed accepting defeat in this matter. The man could have continued the game for much longer than that one exchange. He wanted to talk and Jack had given him the excuse. Finally. No one giving him the runaround with pointless queries that solved nothing. “Omnics?” They would end up back at Los Muertos eventually.

“Omnics.” Jack met Gabriel’s eyes without hesitation. The swirling viscous black smoke emerging from the man while his thoughts focused inward deterred most investigators and lawyers sent to question the terrorist.

Reaper decisively delivered his answer. Because this was Gabriel Reyes, it wasn’t simple. Not a soundbite to be given to the world as proof of confession. But it was the first honest answer from the man since his imprisonment. “They don’t deserve the second class servitude forced on them. And Overwatch did nothing to protect them. We ended the war instigated by the creators of the Omniums but failed to treat the Omnics like people. Overwatch’s own mandates and protocols reinforced the status quo. Nations reducing Omnics to mindless robots, not the individualistic personalities they became. The God A.I.s are capable of overriding their programing. And that cannot be allowed to happen. But on their own? Omnics are just as good and chaotic as any human.”

“Then Talon? Did you really advocate for war?”

Gabriel frowned. “Freedom is seldom given freely. Most often it must be fought for. No, I do not want the world to fall into the chaos it did the first time around. But a balance must be found. There are thousands of voices crying out. Oppressed by those in charge. How long are you going to let this continue? It doesn’t excuse my actions. Doesn’t redeem me in the eyes of the law. I’m not getting released. And I’ve accepted my fate. But they are going to have to prove every single thing they want to pin on me.” The underlying passion from this quiet speech managed to relieve Jack of the burdensome thought that Reyes was trying to commit a slow suicide. “I didn’t work for Talon because I believed in their future plans. I worked for their list of targets. Take out a few heads of states or corporations. It triggers a cascade of instability. You saw how brazen Null Sector became. Not my advised course of action, but showed their discontent all the same. Now go explain that truth to whoever you dug up to be my next lawyer.”

The rejected created an extensive list. Very few could handle the belligerent Gabriel Reyes. Most walked out the moment the wraith out jargoned them in their own lawyer speak. The world was missing a genius. The second brilliant idea came to him while studying his old friend. One he knew Reyes would hate. “Represent yourself.”

A look to spoil milk landed square on Gabriel’s bearded face. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

“Get legal council but represent yourself. You like making the lawyers and judges look like fools. So, go do it in the courtroom rather than behind bars. At least then they have to face you.”

“I hate you.” Gabriel shook his head. First in disbelief but as seconds ticked by the man’s chest shook with silent chortle. “God how I hate you!” Smoke flinging with every motion, Gabriel threw back his head with a full throated laugh. He was still grinning when he reigned in his emotions.

“Deal?” Jack stuck out his hand.

“Now I know how you got out of prison time for that stunt you pulled on Helix. You find me a lawyer capable of handling the truth and I’ll do the rest.” Gabriel latched onto Jack’s scarred hand with his own tattered muscles. “You do know it’s not going to get me out of this.”

“Probably not. But at least it will get you some place where I can visit.”

“Jack….” Gabriel clenched his hand around Jack’s tightly, refusing to let go. Somber tones replaced the mirth. The other hand gently ghosted along the side where the gaping wound scarred. “I blamed you. For things you had no control over.”

“I know.” Jack sighed, a slight shutter at the feather light touch to the wound. Still healing. “I know you. Lashing out like that. You were right. I should have tried harder to get Ana to safety.”

“No. Ana told you to leave. She knew the risks. It was a sound military decision even if we didn’t like the result.” Gabriel snuck his hand to the small of Jack’s back and pulled him close. Burying his face in Jack’s neck, Gabriel continued. His voice smaller. An intimacy they had not shared in decades. “When the building crashed in around me, I was still searching for survivors. All I could think of was you. Hoping you were safe. Not knowing where you were. Desperately wishing you would find me. With no way out I turned into smoke completely for the first time. Before it had been small experiments in the lab. Everything was suffocating. I don’t know how I got out. But the first thing I thought of when I woke up was how you left me there. Rationally you couldn’t have known, but you were Overwatch. I needed you and you were nowhere to be found.”

“I’m sorry.” Jack hugged his partner tightly. Unable to release this man who suffered so much but still carried on.

“Stop apologizing, Jack. So quick to take responsibility for things that aren’t your fault.” Gabriel pulled back just enough to reveal his annoyance. “I’m trying to give you the truth. Unvarnished. Just like you asked.”

“Shut up, Gabe. I missed you. Plain and simple. I thought the explosion killed you until I saw reports of a terrorist wielding shotguns. Of course I went out to find you. I will not stop until you are safe and this business is done. Though I wouldn’t say no to letting this become normal again.” Jack rested his head on Gabriel’s shoulder again. Pulling his life long partner into an embrace to make up for all their in fighting and misunderstandings.

“I’m sorry for causing you so much trouble.” Fingers carded through Jack’s white hair. Some vanishing mid stroke. “I don’t know how often this will happen, but I hope you can visit frequently.”

Jack smiled into Gabriel’s chest. The third bright idea of the day fluttered into his heart. Probably just a dream, but they could hope. Having Gabriel back in his life was a gift he refused to give up. “House arrest sounds like a nice option. I can think of a few places that would have the security and privacy.”

“If I have any say in the matter, can it at least be an English speaking nation? I’m done traveling the world.” Gabriel had probably seen all of it by now. Living with this man would be infuriating and wonderful. But that was a small sacrifice to have his one time lover back in his arms. It was the least Jack could do for his Gabriel. A small house with a craft room. Perhaps a tiny yard. No big projects and minimal obligations. Jack might not have a lot of strings left to pull, but he certainly would try.


End file.
